Church of England Considers ‘Trans-Baptisms’ for Those Who Change Sex

The Church of England is in line to offer ‘trans-baptisms’ to those of its followers who change sex.The idea will be discussed at the church’s General Synod next month after a motion was tabled by the Reverend Chris Newlands, vicar of Lancaster Priory in northern England.He told the BBC of a case two years ago where a female parishioner who had chosen to become male “didn’t think that God would know who he was and his new name having been baptized as a girl…”Having created a special service to help this particular parishioner by adapting an official initiation booklet from the Church of England, the priest now wants a formal liturgy to be introduced.But the different interpretations of gender reassignment – whether someone adopts the appearance of the opposite sex or actually has a full sex change – has caused some unease within the church’s ranks about the idea.